Eight New Shows You Should Catch at MIPTV

Vanessa Esteves

Creator/Showrunner/Exec Producer, Super Wish, Nelvana

Age: 41 Birthplace: Toronto School: Humber College (Film & TV Production) Favorite shows & movies growing up: I was a huge fan of the three coolest females in animation in the ‘80s: Jem, She-Ra and Rainbow Brite. Fave movies: The Neverending Story and Return of the Jedi. Animation heroes: Jennifer Lee and Lauren Faust. First animation job: I was the design coordinator on Cyberchase. What I love about my job: I love that I get to use my imagination in all aspects of my day. As a kid, my teachers would tell me to stop daydreaming and pay attention, and now I daydream for a living. Biggest challenge: For the past two years, my biggest challenge has been finding ways to connect creatively in a virtual environment. As we continue to create and produce content remotely, each new stage of development or production brings with it the question of, “Well, how do we accomplish this virtually?” This challenge has forced us to think outside the box and get even more creative in our solutions. Best career advice: Regardless of your age, never stop answering the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Future plans: I will continue to co-showrun Super Wish as we prepare for the premiere and to share it with audiences, and I am working on some additional exciting projects alongside the talented teams at Nelvana. I also wrote a short film that is currently in development, and I will continue to create and develop series pitches with my creative partner.

Dale Malinowski

Co-Executive Producer, Transformers: EarthSpark, Nickelodeon

Age: 36 Birthplace: Raised in Reading, Pennsylvania School: Temple University, 2007 First time I knew I wanted to work in animation: I loved animation and comics from a very young age. I would trace comic-book covers and interior splash pages, I would draw characters I loved from the shows I was obsessed with, and I would staple together drawings of original characters I created to assemble their stories in DIY comic books. I knew I wanted to be a storyteller as a kid but I didn’t know how to convert my fantasy into a career. That path came into focus at school, so I put in the work and followed opportunities that led me to animation. Luck and timing played a role in my journey, too! First animation job: Assistant to three current series executives at Nickelodeon. I didn’t know what ‘current series’ was before the interview, and I showed up sporting a black eye from a freak softball collision — not a good look walking into a children’s entertainment company. Still, those three executives took a chance and hired me. They were phenomenal bosses and mentors who taught me everything about animation production. I was vocal about my passion for writing and they encouraged me to pursue it. After a few years (and many failed interviews), I landed a job as a script coordinator and finally made it into a writer’s room. That was on Andy Suriano and Ant Ward’s Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and it was a dream come true. Fave animated shows growing up: My favorite animated shows were the ones whose characters lived in my toy chest: TMNT, The Real Ghostbusters, Batman, X-Men, and Transformers, to name a few. What I love about my job: I love writing for these characters. The Transformers are beloved, and contributing to their legacy is a privilege. I smile every time Final Draft auto-fills ‘Optimus Prime’ in the character field. I also love storyboard launch meetings. That’s the production milestone where written material begins its transition into a visual language. Discussions about character, intent, and how to communicate “what it’s about” are always enlightening because so many of my co-workers are masters of their craft. Challenges: The job has many challenges, but they’re relative. We spend our days (and nights and weekends!) making animation for a kid audience, so maintaining perspective makes even the toughest moments feel surmountable. Animation idols: I admire everyone I’m working with right now. Many crew members are the most talented people I’ve never met! Someday, we will all gather

and be merry — I will probably cry. Best career advice: You are more important than your work. Take care of yourself and ask for help when you need it.

Ernie Rinard

Art Director, Luck, Skydance Animation

Age: 53 Birthplace: Long Beach, California School: Art Center College of Design First job in animation: Spider-Man: The Animated Series. Fave animated titles: TV shows: The Flintstones, Looney Tunes, The Simpsons, The Ren & Stimpy Show, South Park. Movies: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Dumbo, The Lion King, Toy Story, Spirited Away, The Incredibles, Kung Fu Panda, Coraline, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, What I love about my job: Luck requires building a world that not only needs to express the idea of ‘luck’ but have something to say about what luck really means. It’s wonderful working with so many great artists that each have something unique and vital to contribute. Toughest part of the job: It’s always challenging to take an intangible idea like luck and make it into a concept that we can visualize — of course seeing this happen has also been among the most rewarding. Animation heroes: Walt Disney, Chuck Jones, Ray Harryhausen, Phil Tippett, Tex Avery, Eyvind Earle, John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Craig Mullins, Glen Keane, Stan Lee, Hayao Miyazaki, George Lucas, Chris Miller, Phil Lord, Don Hertzfeldt. Best career advice: Do what inspires you. Always bring your sincerest efforts and biggest contributions to everything you do. If you have something to say, speak up, have fun, work hard, and don’t give up!

Floriane Marchix

Art Director, The Bad Guys, DreamWorks Animation

Age: 37 Birthplace: Nantes, France School: Studied advertising design at La Joliverie in Nantes, then at L’École Européenne Supérieure de l’Image at Poitiers, where I studied a little bit of animation. Becoming quite fascinated with it, I then decided to try my luck studying Animation at Gobelins, l’École de l’Image. First time I realized I wanted to work in animation: I’ve always loved animation, but the process of making it my daily job took quite a few years to mature. After I realized that advertising (my first love) wasn’t exactly what I had expected, I knew that animation could be a very fun alternative offering plenty of possibilities. I pursued this road and at the end of my studies at Gobelins, I realized that I would never be as good as some of my classmates and I had way more fun designing the environments during the development stages of our projects. What I love about my job: I love the opportunity to be involved in every tiny decision. Being able to witness the movie coming together. As an art director, it’s fantastic to be able to work with all those different teams who are bringing their A-game to the table. It’s a very humbling experience for sure. Most challenging aspect of art directing The Bad Guys: It was a pretty smooth show with a clear direction from the beginning and a lot of trust from our director and producers. We were headed into a direction that the teams at the studio were not familiar with. It was a new style with graphic intrusions, a more anime rhythm, with a simpler look at the same time. We had to “bake” this look and figure out a lot of issues while dealing with a tight schedule. We didn’t have a lot of room for mistakes.

Animation heroes and favorite

works: Miyazaki and Brad Bird for their fantastic sense of storytelling. I loved Sleeping Beauty, Nicky Larson, Ranma ½ and Tex Avery cartoons. Later on, Princess Mononoke was a huge revelation. Best career advice: As an art director, the best advice I’ve received was that it was alright to “not know,” everybody expects your answer in meetings because it’s our role and it could be stressful. But it’s perfectly fine to let the teams know that you need a minute to figure it out!